This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Dale E. Dallman will award a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
I think the best research for a book is living it! If you are going to write about a place, go there, live it, touch the dirt, listen to the wind. I am part Native American, and I swear, I can feel my ancestors as I go into the Montana and Dakota country. I can hear their wisdom. I do research the area I am writing about, but firsthand experience seems to be what the reader wants! They can read research, look up, look at pictures, but they can’t find the thoughts in your head, unless you tell them. That is what sets you apart from books based on research! My book just released “LETTERS FROM A WARRIOR P.S. Mom, I love you” has no research. It is actual events that you would never be able to research. Every letter is real. Every event is something you can’t find unless you tell it! It is the most personal, look inside another person’s brain, you can get!
Writing is my destiny! It took 60 years to finally get it to happen! I started writing in Grade School! My projects always got good reviews from my grade schoolteacher. She would give a project. The other kids would have two or three lines–I would have 30! High school changed me! I started running and lost interest in school! I went from an A student to barely passing. I was the epitome of the Elvis Pressley look! The greasy, Vitalis, combed back, Duck Tail hair, the black leather jacket, the t-shirt, with the Camel Cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve! The Engineer boots. No interesting anything, let alone writing. Joining the Marine Corps started me back. I kept a Journal, which I incorporated into letters I sent home. That was the extent, until I started VA treatment with a shrink. She suggested I get writing again. SO, I opened the bottom desk drawer, took out the old letters and started this book. It was a combination of the shrink and a GREAT Publisher, Traci Wooden, that I got back into serious writing.
Publication was never a reality. I tried a few times to send the book idea to publishers! Most never even responded! I kept working on three books, knowing that the only person who would ever read them was me and the guy who didn’t publish! My wife, who is a professional photographer, and a singer was going to Las Vegas to record a song. I went along to lose my $300. BUT-the people who were doing her recording started asking me questions! I made the mistake of saying I wish I could publish a book! Oh Oh-that started a flood of questions, with me promising to send the series of letters used to write this book. Long story short, they loved em’! They in turn sent them to Traci Wooden, a great publisher! With the help of my wife, Traci and GOD, I got one!!
My favorite author has always been Louis L’a Mour. I have read his works for decades! He wasn’t just an author; he was an inspiration to the American West. I don’t stick to a specific genre! I jump from Western, to military to women’s rights! Every book I write, I am involved! It is personal. I travel the land I write about. I walk in the shoes of the characters in my books.
The best part of being an author is being able to influence people, connect with people, relate to people! I am not very polished. I don’t have an Ivy League education. I learned street smarts from failure and success. The Marines taught me to “IMPROVISE, ADAPT and OVERCOME! I write from experience! The book about the car business that is coming out-I sold cars, the book about the WHITE BUFFALO that is in process is written on ground I stood on! The Marine Corps book is me!
The worst part-well, the first chapters of the BUFFALO book were written on a trip into the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. I was in a cabin that was 12 miles in by horseback. It was so quiet that at night, a fly sounded like a bomber! The Packrat that lived there would scamper through my stuff and steal every pen or coin I dropped! The pages were written with pen and paper! It is just recently that I advanced to a computer! You would laugh (as my wife does) to watch me type with one finger! (her sister was sitting out in the living room, asking my wife “what that clicking noise was as I beat out a chapter!) That is the worst part! I wish I was not Electronically challenged! I have a 50 word a minute brain, but a 5-word finger!
Well, I’m presently working on three books!! I didn’t plan it that way! I will be putting together a part in one book and think, “you know, I can use that thought in this other one” The WHITE BUFFALO is probably the next one to go to TAWC Publishing! If Traci sees fit! I will continue the work of this military book that is just published and plead with Traci to publish another for this poor ol’ country boy!
I really get involved in my books! I try to feel what the character is feeling! I dedicated the book- Letters From A Warrior P.S. Mom, I love you-to every mom who received a flag back, instead of her son or daughter!
Writing is a high hanging fruit! I encourage every reader who thinks they have a story in them to reach out and grab that high hanging fruit. It tastes so good when you get it!
“Letters From A Warrior, P.S. Mom, I Love You” is a captivating true story full of adventure and self-discovery. It is portrayed with a relentless wit that offers an intimate glimpse into the world of the US Marine Corps Boot Camp in 1960. This is all done through the eyes of a young man who trades his small-town roots in Minot, North Dakota for the thrilling and challenging life of a Marine.
Through a series of unapologetically honest and unintentionally humorous letters to his mother, the author shares his unvarnished experiences as a naive 18-year-old navigating the tribulations of boot camp. With the specter of his seemingly menacing drill instructors looming large, this young man’s quest for a life beyond his hometown quickly becomes a rollercoaster of exhilaration, fear, and personal growth.
Witness the author’s transformation from a small-town boy to a dedicated warrior as he overcomes adversity and learns invaluable lessons about courage, resilience, and the true meaning of strength. From his first day at the MCRD to his thrilling new beginning in Hawaii, this unforgettable memoir stands as a testament to the power of determination and the indomitable spirit of youth.
Enjoy an Excerpt
I sat up in bed and observed a Marine with two stripes coming toward me. He was shaking and yelling at each bunk as he went by. He did an about-face when he reached the end of the aisle and yelled that he was Corporal Johnston, corporal of the guard.
He said Staff Sergeant Smith was busy so he was taking us to chow. He said we had fifteen minutes to shit, shower, shave and dress after which he wanted us all standing on the painted stripes outside. He said anyone late would die. He said the one they’d taken out last night was already dead.
I wanted to say, “You can’t kill a man for pissing his bed,” but my mouth wouldn’t open. I decided I didn’t need a shower, I was too scared to shit, and I was still too young to shave so I just dressed, used the urinal, and stood around talking to my friends.
Todd asked me if I had seen Adam. I said no, but I figured he was gone for good.
Thomas delivered the next question with as serious a face as I’d ever seen on him. “They really can’t kill him for pissing his bed, can they”?
I said no but I thought they might put him in jail. I had read stories about military brigs, and I figured Adam was already in a striped suit, breaking rocks as we spoke.
About the Author: 
Dale E. Dallman, Senior was born on a hot dry day in Britton, South Dakota, just off the Sisseton Indian Reservation, east of Lake Tewaukon, because that was the closest hospital. His relatives all worked for the railroad and/or farmed near Fort Ransom, Cayuga, and Rutland, North Dakota. When his father got the chance to quit farming and transfer to the railroad they moved to Minot, North Dakota where Dale attended grade school at Sunnyside and graduated high school at Minot High.
After Dale and a few of his friends got themselves into trouble towards the end of their senior year, a nice judge “suggested” that he and several of his acquaintances join the United States Marine Corps. The formation of the “NODAK PLATOON” made the timeline fit. The Marines took him to San Diego, California, Hawaii, Asia, and back to San Francisco, California. He grew up fast in the Marines. One of his buddies stuck with him after they were discharged and the two followed each other off and on through life.
His first real job after the service was in Billings, Montana with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co. as a road salesman. This led to other road salesman positions with the American Greetings Company and the Bristol Myers Drug Company. He ventured into real estate, casinos, auto sales, RV sales, which took him to Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. He became a deputy sheriff in California for a while, then traveled on to Washington, Arizona, Virginia, Germany, and Colorado, to name a few.
Today, Mr. Dallman lives in the South with his wife Cassandra Dallman, a professional photographer and singer out of Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys and continues to take great pride in his children and their offspring.
This book is neither his first nor last written work so please check back to see upcoming books from Dale E. Dallman.
Buy the book at Amazon.
